Angel: A new beginning
by ShinichiEdogawa
Summary: Set after the events of "Not Fade Away" in an alternate storyline to the canon Buffy season 8 and Angel season 6. Rated T for suggestive themes and jokes.
1. The Return

Angel splashed cool water on his face. It had no effect, but he sensed the water running down his face, and it seemed to wash away the turmoil, if only for that sweet moment. The team, or the two people left on it, were still reeling from Wesley's death. Illyria, although she had never exhibited so much as a sorrowful moment in her "life", if you could call it that, she seemed most affected by her closest friend's death. And Gunn…Angel did not want to think about Gunn at all. As far as he was concerned, Gunn was dead. He had no value to the team in his present state, and he posed a threat. And Lorne. What had happened to Lorne? Did he just dance his way into the unknown? No. He must be somewhere…

Angel's thoughts turned to Illyria. She had become a powerful ally, but she still had more than a lot to learn about inhabiting a human body. Angel chuckled as he recalled Illyria tripping and falling over her own feet.

"Walk Much?" he had asked her.

"No. I'm much better at floating."

And now that he and Illyria had left L.A., she had become even more confused. Scotland is not exactly the most exciting place on this earth, and Angel knew that. Illyria, however, was expecting a bursting metropolis, and almost blew her own head off with disappointment when she saw the rural countryside and the Loch. But she was among people who understood her. Xander had taken very kindly to Illyria, as he had to Anya, and was beginning to act as her crutch through this confusing world. Buffy had commented once on her blue hair, resulting in an almost balding Buffy upon Illyria's reaction. Willow had only seen Illyria once, and the gods only know where she may be now.

Angel's final thought was cut in half by a rather loud knock on the door.

"Come on! Since when do vampires take 45 minutes in the bathroom!" cried an exasperated Andrew.

"Alright, alright, I'll be right out."

"You weren't…showering or anything, were you?" asked Andrew bemusedly.

"No, Andrew."

"Oh, well, cause, if you were, I could just pop in and out to wash my face and then come back-"

Angel opened the door. "Go on."

Andrew withdrew slightly and grimaced. He ran into the bathroom and Angel heard the door lock. Angel put on his jacket and walked out of the pleasantly furnished room into the grayish command center. "Status report?" he heard a voice ask him. Xander tapped Angel on the shoulder.

"Andrew wanted to know if I was showering."

Xander chuckled a bit. "He wanted me to go swimming in the loch with him. I told him only if we could bring Ria and he flipped."

"Ria?"

"Illyria."

"Oh, right. How's she doin'?"

"Exceptionally well for an evil demon princess that has turned to good and ohmygod what the hell is that?"

Angel looked up at the screen and saw a slimy green creature, with no distinct features, slithering across the camera lens. He recognized it. "It's called a Revena demon. The only real danger is its poison, so tell the slayers not to-" He saw one of the slayers stick her hand through it on the screen. "-touch it."

Xander took immediate action. "Slayer Frida!"

"Yes sir!?"

"Immediate sanitization maneuver!"

"Sir?"

"That thing you just touched is poisonous."

"Copy, sir."

Angel shook his head slightly and stepped back. He walked into his own bedroom, and lay down, staring at the ceiling. The turmoil retook him, and he drifted off into a swirl of black thorns, faces, buildings…He started awake with a knock on the door. Dawn walked in.

"Hey Angel, there's someone here to see you."

"Oh? Who is it?"

Dawn merely stepped aside and allowed the visitor to walk in. It happened in slo-mo. From the bronzed legs to the red blouse and skirt, the golden jacket, and the shoulder length hair…and finally the face. And Angel fell backwards. His ceased heart seemed to beat again. He squirmed inside at the sight. _But how?_ He thought frantically. _How? How?_

"How?" he said the last part aloud.

Cordelia only smiled.


	2. Vague much?

Chapter 2

As Angel, from the floor, looked up at the face of his beloved, his head began to rush. Could it really be Cordelia?

"Yes, it can." She answered his thoughts almost immediately.

"How did you-?"

"Could see it on your ugly mug." She replied with a grin. Angel stared for another moment, and then ran straight into her with a hug. "Easy, tiger! Easy!" she yelled as Angel squeezed tighter. "Breathing becoming an issue!" and Angel let go.

"No, it can't-you died." He said with a mixture of disbelief and teary joy.

"For a while there, yeah. Almost a whole year."

"How-"

"Shhhh," she said calmly as she placed a finger to his lips. "Let's just enjoy each other's company for now. I'll explain later." Angel looked over Cordelia's shoulder and saw Dawn still standing at the door. He motioned for her to go away. She made a face at him and left reluctantly, stomping.

"Oh, so much to catch up with!" said Cordelia. "How's the gang? Gunn? Welsey? Fred?"

"They're all…." The pain of loss suddenly overtook Angel again. He felt his overjoy at seeing Cordelia again fade as the memories of the past returned dauntingly to his mind. "…Dead." He, himself could not believe it. She looked as though Angel had hit her with an ax.

"Dead? B-b-but…how?" She replied with shock and a look of despair.

"Wesley…was killed. Gunn, while technically "alive", if you can call it that, is as good as dead. And Fred…Fred doesn't live there anymore."

"Well who does?"

"I do." Illyria had appeared at the doorway. She walked into the room and pulled Angel up by his collar.

"Illyria-" he started.

"Harris wants to see you pronto." She said. "And he said to bring the girl." She mentioned to Cordelia to get up and follow them.

"And, who are you praytell?" Cordelia asked with bitterness.

"I am Illyria. Goddess. Demon. Fighter of evil things."

Cordelia raised her eyebrows at Angel. "This thing took over Fred?"

"This thing is Fred now," Angel responded.

They arrived in the command center. Upon catching sight of Angel, Andrew stood straight up in a salute with his arm planted firmly on his head and legs perfectly straight. Xander merely turned and looked, waving at Angel.

"At ease, soldier," Xander said to Andrew, who reluctantly eased his pose.

"Hey Xander!" Cordelia said happily, going over to hug him. As they hugged, Andrew gasped with horror.

"Dead thing! AAAAAAGH!" He tried to pull Cordelia off of Xander.

"Andrew, what the HELL do you think you are doing?"

"She's dead! Don't touch her!"

"_Was_ dead, you spaz," Cordelia said with resentment.

"Andrew, it's fine. She's fine," Angel said. Andrew immediately backed off.

"Oh, alright. But Angel's the only one who can tell me what to do. He's so good at his job and all you people do are hug and cry and hug more. I said hug twice cause that's all you do. Hug."

"Andrew?" Angel asked.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like a hug?"

"Would I?!" exclaimed Andrew. He threw himself upon Angel, who stiffened. _I didn't mean with me,_ he thought. He saw Cordelia chuckle. After two _very_ awkward moments of Andrew's hug, Angel proclaimed that it was enough and shook a disappointed Andrew off.

Xander laughed, but he appeared to see something over Angel's shoulder, and his expression turned from slight mirth to that of pleasantly surprised. He merely stayed silent.

"So this is what I can expect from you guys? Hugging? You can do that on your own time." Buffy walked in behind Angel and tapped his shoulder. "I think our Andrew has a crush on Angel."

"I do not!" exclaimed Andrew.

"Then why did you hug him for so long?" asked Buffy.

"Cause."

"He doesn't have a crush on me, Buffy," Angel said quietly.

"Maybe not Andrew then. Maybe somebody else we know?"

"Like who?" asked Xander.

"Like the one in the brown dress. Who are you?" Buffy asked.

Cordelia, clearly taken aback, stepped closer. "You don't recognize me? Remember, we went to high school, I had better hair then you, I was in history with you…"

Buffy looked back blankly. And then it seemed to dawn on her. "Oh-Em-Gee! Cordelia?!"

The two girls screamed and hugged each other.

"I thought you died?" Buffy asked.

"I did." Cordelia and Buffy, much to Angel's relief, walked off together to talk about shoes and the mall and boys and whatever the hell superheroines like to talk about.

"And the surprises don't end there, I see," Andrew said.

"What do you me-"

"He means, the fact that I am in your presence may surprise you," Said a familiar voice, with an English accent.

Angel turned. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce stood in the doorway. He and Cordelia caught each other's eyes, and walked over to Angel.

"It is time we told him," Welsey said.

"But, we haven't even been here a whole-"

"Cordeeliaa…" Wesley warned.

"Oh, alright."

They turned to him.

"We are here, but only for a while," Cordelia told him.

"We have been corporealized by the Powers that Be until this matter is resolved," Wesley said.

"Matter? What mat-" Angel began.

"The matter of the new apocalypse they say is coming to town," Cordelia said with a slight air of annoyance.

"It is becoming the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year very soon," Wesley said.

"So?" Angel and Cordelia said in unison.

"Just thought I'd throw that out there," said Wesley. It was here that Illyria walked in and nearly dropped the weapons she was carrying (on Andrew, nonetheless) when she saw Wesley. She ran over to him.

"You! But-?"

"A moment, please, Illyria," Wesley said.

"Anyway, myself, Wesley, and another were sent back from the dead to help you. I don't recognize her, but she said she knows Willow."

"And I do." Said a voice from behind them. Buffy, upon hearing the voice, shoved Wesley and Cordelia aside.

"Tara!?" she ran up to the girl and threw her arms around her.

"We haven't much time," the girl said, her voice muffled by Buffy's arms and sobs.

"It's coming very soon." Said Wesley. "I can feel it."

"What, exactly?" asked Angel.

"We're not sure, exactly," said Cordelia. "That's the trouble with the the Powers. Vague much?"


	3. Prophecy, now

Chapter 3

Later that night, Angel lay on the floor in his room. He was staring straight up at the ceiling, but to him, it wasn't there. The ceiling seemed to give way to Angel's thoughts. He watched the days' past events flicker past him, as though they were a movie. While the room was in complete silence, the sounds of Cordelia's and Wesley's voices rang in his ears.

_The new apocalypse._ Cordelia mentioned it. What could it be? Angel's mind began scanning through all the abnormalities that had transpired throughout the past weeks. _The venomous urchins, the surge of vampires in Ukraine, the earthquake in Spain…_ Nothing jumped out as a potential omen of Armageddon. But all the same, Angel's stomach seemed to twist into even tighter knots. What if he had missed something?

_I can't think like that. I have to keep alert and try to find whatever this thing might be._ He motioned to get up, when there was a knock on the door.

"Angel?" he heard Andrew's voice say.

"Yes, Andrew?" said Angel, rather reluctantly. He could have just pretended that he wasn't there and let Andrew move on. Why didn't he?

"Buffy wants to see you," he said, with a tinge of jealousy in his voice.

Angel unlocked the door and walked out, Andrew jogging behind him to keep up. He glided smoothly along the corridor, not noticing his feet touching the carpeted floor. He finally swooshed into the large, concrete cube of a room, paying no attention to the various people greeting him of the screens, showing images of rather repulsive demons.

"Buffy," Angel said, walking up to the blonde.

"Oh, hey. Come here for a second please?" she said, pulling him away to a corner, and warning Andrew with a look not to follow.

"What is it?" he asked apprehensively.

"We've had our tecchies looking at Cordy, Wes, and Tara," she explained, shifting slightly in her position. Angel thought she looked slightly uncomfortable.

"And?"

"And they're not…normal. They're completely solid, but yet they aren't radiating heat. Their hearts aren't beating, and as far as we can detect, no brain activity at all."

"So, are they really here?"

"Well, we know they aren't astral projectors, but they're just not…there," Angel saw her struggle to find the right words.

"What do you mean?"

"Angel, we can see them, hear them, talk to them, touch them…but they have no signs of life, they don't cast shadows, reflections, and they don't show up on film…it's like they're hallucinations or something. But they're their own consciousness…They can recall past events. Almost perfectly, actually."

Angel nodded. "Isn't that what makes a person?"

Buffy shrugged. "I guess."

Angel raised his eyebrows. "So, if you didn't remember me…you didn't remember any of your friends, any of the things that have happened in the last twenty years, your name…would you still be Buffy?"

At this, her eyes lit up. "No, I don't think I would be. "

Angel straightened up and stretched. "Then they are who they claim to be…Wesley, Cordelia, and Tara."

Buffy stood suddenly. "You're right." She walked to the doorway and held onto the door. "Oh, by the way, Connor would like to see you. He wants to ask you something."

"Tell him I'll be right there."

Angel walked out of the doorway from the dank command center and into the hotel-esque hall. He came to the room he knew belonged to his son, and knocked on the door. There was a slight delay, and then a response:

"Who is it?" came Connor's voice.

"It's me."

"Gimme a sec." Angel heard Connor rummage to put something away, and then the lock turning. The door opened.

"What's up?" Angel said to his son.

"Just needed to show you something." Connor retreated into the room.

"Uh, son-" Angel said, hinting at the doorway.

"Oh yeah-come in," Connor said. "Look at this." He motioned for Angel to follow him over to a bag, opened on his bed. Angel forgot that Connor had only arrived in town late last night and would still be unpacking. Connor, at the speed of sound, rummaged through the bag until he found what he was looking for: a shiny, reflective glass sphere.

"What's this?" Angel asked, interested.

"Orb of Leisaan," Connor said.

"Which is…?"

"They conjure up images of the future and of the past, kind of like a crystal ball, if it worked both ways. I saw something in it, I wanted to see if you would too. Look."

"Alright." Angel edged in closer. At first he only saw his reflection, staring back at him with black, beady eyes that whistfully longed to fade. Then, the orb began to gleam a little bit brighter. In place of his reflection, he saw…was it the sun or the moon? He couldn't tell. So he kept looking, and, seeing the tall buildings of Los Angeles, knew it must have been the moon. The Senior Partners had wreaked havoc on LA since Angel Investigations left…but wait…it was the sun. Angel was confused, until he remembered the purpose of the orb. He continued to watch. A man, roughly average height and build, walked out into the sunlight. He stretched, and as he did so, a woman came out of the building to his right. She hugged him for what seemed like hours, and ended it with a kiss. Almost as though it were a camera, the crystal ball zoomed in closer on the scene, until Angel could make out the two strangers in the LA sunlight. He recognized them at once and knew the ball had to be lying. He knocked it out of Connor's hands and it rolled under his bed.

"Hey!" Connor yelped indignantly. "Do you know how fragile that thing is?"

"Sorry," said Angel unapologetically. "But that image can't be true."

"It won't be if you don't let it."

Unwilling to hear anymore, Angel swept about and left Connor's room.


	4. Leaky Business

Angel: A New Beginning

Chapter 4

Angel slammed the door to his room and nearly broke it off its hinges. The door creaked itself open shortly after, and refused to close. Angel gave up on trying keeping it closed when he slammed it so hard that it caused a passing Andrew to jump and yell "Earthquake!" so loud that the entire headquarters could have been awakened. He plopped down on his bed and put his face in the covers, the movie-like images of the crystal ball still screening in his mind. There was a knock on the open door.

"What?" Angel responded rudely, not looking up.

"It's me," said Cordelia's voice. As he looked up, there she was, standing in the doorway. The blonde highlights in her hair seemed to reflect light in such a way that she had a halo, but as she turned, it faded. She walked over to the bed and sat next to Angel.

"I'm-well-I'm really sorry."

"For what?" she asked, a little alarmed.

"Yelling at you."

"Oh please, like I haven't been yelled at before. With Wesley it was always 'type this, Cordelia,' or 'file this, Cordelia,' or 'Cordelia, stop painting your toenails and get back to work,' I think I can handle a little emotional rudeness."

"Cordelia, I-"

"I know you do."

"You know I what?" Angel asked.

"Love me," she responded, laughing a little; not in amusement, but rather in happy reminiscence. "I know that I love you too."

Angel stared at her, and tears filled his eyes. It had been nearly two hundred years since Angel last shed a tear. But Cordelia's presence, now, here, with him…It was more than he could handle. Cordelia brushed her hand along his eyes, drying his vulnerable pupils with her delicate hands.

"Shh," she said, running her palms along his cheeks. "I'm here. I've always been here, with you."

"I've missed you…like you wouldn't believe…"

"I haven't missed you…Because I knew you were doing so well. And I could see you, I could feel you, I was a part of you. I can still feel you…I always will." Cordelia said, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

Angel and Cordelia embraced, for what seemed like hours they held each other and cried on the other's shoulder. When they released, Cordelia kissed him lightly on the cheek and then got up from the bed.

"By the way, I know what the Orb of Leisaan showed you. I saw it in a vision. And I want you to know…It can be true. It will be. So it has been seen, and so shall it be. Don't you want it to happen?"

"More than anything," he muttered, the truest statement ever made in his life.

"Then it will. I know it will," Cordelia smiled, and exited the room.

"So," Wesley said to Connor, "the prophecy is not lost after all?"

"Not according to the future," Connor answered, hardly looking up.

"Connor, this is big news," Wesley said.

"Yes, the chance that a demon may become human again is a rare one indeed," Illyria chimed in. "Oh, I forgot, I can do that whenever I want."

"Illyria, do be quiet, Wesley's made a good point," came Giles' accented tone from the doorway. "If the Shanshu prophecy is to, in fact, still be fulfilled, then maybe the Senior Partners don't have as much power as we thought."

"Or maybe…" came a breathy, female voice from behind Giles, "they are the ones who make Angel human again." Faith stalked into the room and sat down on the window sill. Wesley and Connor looked disapprovingly at her trite attitude, but continued the conversation.

"I suppose that is a possibility," said Wesley, "Although we don't know their current priorities. Do you think they are aware of the orb's prediction?"

"Almost positively, as they control many creatures with the sight," said Giles. "However, their knowledge can be used to our advantage. When the Senior Partners want something taken care of, they usually send people to do it for them. Who would take care of stopping a prophecy?"

"I doubt they are concerned with that now, it is the distant future, after all," Wesley responded.

"The Senior Partners would jump at the chance to put a damper on Angel," Faith said.

"I agree," said Connor. "But there's a chance it won't come true. He doesn't believe it will."

"That's because he loves to brood," said Faith.

"Well, he'll come around soon. He must." Wesley said, to a nod of agreement from Giles.

"May I offer an opinion?" said a voice unfamiliar to Wesley and Connor, who turned about. Tara spryly wove into the room and stood in the center.

"Yes, of course…" said Wesley.

"Well, If the prophecy is a possibility, that also means there is a possibility that it will not come true. Let's keep the fact that we know about it under wraps until someone can figure out what the partners have in store for us."

"That is a very good idea, Tara," said Giles. Wesley and Connor agreed almost immediately.

"That's going to be hard, considering what I just found out," said Faith, getting up.

"Oh? What is that?" asked Giles.

"There's a leak in the slayer tank. Someone amongst the slayers is working for Wolfram & Hart."

There was a shocked silence. Connor followed up with:

"Then everything we have said does not leave this room. Someone tell dad the news, I'll go and tell Buffy."

Everyone nodded and set out to do their assigned task.


End file.
